diff --git a/bfd/ChangeLog b/bfd/ChangeLog
index e86d8e99e3..a94c674042 100644
--- a/bfd/ChangeLog
+++ b/bfd/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+1999-10-27  Ian Lance Taylor  <ian@zembu.com>
+
+	* stabs.c (_bfd_link_section_stabs): Make sure .stabstr section
+	starts with a zero.
+
 Sat Oct 23 17:36:12 1999  Andrew Cagney  <cagney@b1.cygnus.com>
 
 	* archures.c: Add definitions bfd_mach_d10v, bfd_mach_d10v_ts2 and
diff --git a/bfd/stabs.c b/bfd/stabs.c
index ea4da8fccc..e9ac167628 100644
--- a/bfd/stabs.c
+++ b/bfd/stabs.c
@@ -230,6 +230,8 @@ _bfd_link_section_stabs (abfd, psinfo, stabsec, stabstrsec, psecinfo)
       sinfo->strings = _bfd_stringtab_init ();
       if (sinfo->strings == NULL)
 	goto error_return;
+      /* Make sure the first byte is zero.  */
+      (void) _bfd_stringtab_add (sinfo->strings, "", true, true);
       if (! bfd_hash_table_init_n (&sinfo->includes.root,
 				   stab_link_includes_newfunc,
 				   251))